Lamb sweetbread

Ris d’agneau

What it is

A lamb's thymus weighs a few dozen grams where a calf's runs to several hundred, so it reaches the counter as a handful of walnut-sized nuggets rather than a lobe to be pared and portioned. It sells for a fraction of the veal price, and that is roughly how the two were divided: ris de veau went to restaurants, ris d'agneau stayed at home.

In the kitchen

No overnight press, no long soak: five minutes in barely simmering acidulated water, slip the membrane off, dry them, then two minutes a side in foaming butter. Held longer they tighten and go rubbery, and nothing carves that back out of them.

Goes with

Butter Lemon Capers Parsley Hazelnut Raisin Shallot Sherry vinegar

Same species

Pauillac lamb Salt marsh lamb Sisteron lamb Lamb fries Lamb brain Leg of lamb

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us